CRITICAL REVIEW ON AMY CHUA: ‘WHY CHINESE MOTHERS ARE
SUPERIOR’
Chinese parents are always stereotyped as tiger parents. Their style of parenting is
quite tough compared to other parents from different races. Their tiger-parenting style is
often viewed as cruel by the Western parents because they really want their children to
become somebody. My critics on this essay would be agreeing on the rule of not allowing
children to watch TV and play computer games, excellent points organization and idea
flow, usage of professional but easy language, and disagreeing on children are not allowed
to choose their own extracurricular activity.
In “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, Amy Chua elucidates insightfully how she
raises her daughters with tiger-parenting starting with mentioning the rules and regulations
she has set for them. She also explains that Chinese mothers are stricter than Western
parents in parenting. She backs up her point by providing a study of 50 Western American
mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, in which the Western mothers say that
“stressing academic success is not good for children” while the Chinese mothers think that
their children’s “academic achievement reflects successful parenting”. Furthermore, she
provides three big differences between the Chinese and Western parental mind-sets.
Additionally, she states her own experience raised in a Chinese household and her
experience in making her daughter works on a piano piece called “The Little White Donkey”
until she manages to play the piece gracefully using her tiger-parenting. Lastly, Amy Chua
concludes that Western parents nurture their children with supportive and encouraging
environment while the Chinese instil their kids with skills, work habits and inner confidence.
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From this essay, I agree with the rule that Amy Chua has set for her daughters to
obey, which is they are not allowed to watch TV or play computer games. This is totally
understandable as watching TV and playing computer games can affect children’s
academic performance. A research by Yan (2017) has shown that higher TV viewing hours
are associated with a number of negative effects such as being overweight and obese,
attention and behavioural problems, and impaired academic performance. This is because
watching TV or playing computer games can make children lose their focus and steal away
the time that they need to develop important skills. TV viewing numbs children’s mind as it
prevents them from exercising initiative, being intellectually challenged, thinking
analytically, and using their imagination (Dorey, 2010).
Next, the essay has an excellent points organization and idea flow. The author, Amy
Chua, first stating that Western parents are not even close to being strict like Chinese
mothers. She then proceeds with stating her point on why Chinese mothers are stricter
than Western parents. To support her point, she shows clear contrasts between Western
parents and Chinese mothers in parenting by providing some studies. One of the studies
shows that Chinese parents spend most of their time drilling academic activities with their
children while Western parents will let their kid to participate in sports teams. I agree with
this because even in most of the Western films, the film maker will stress on teenagers
participating in sports teams such as American football instead of stressing on their
academic. In addition, she adds her own experience in getting called “garbage” by her
father when she was young and the fact that it did not damage her self-esteem but made
her realise that she was wrong really strengthen her point that Chinese parenting brings
more good than harm.
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Moreover, the language used in the essay is very professional yet easy for readers
to understand. Despite of Amy Chua’s position as a professor at Yale Law School, she
does not use any pedantic words in attempt to sound like a professor she is. In fact, she
uses simple words in order to make the readers understand the message she is trying to
deliver. This clearly shows that she tries to educate people of all age from all walks of life
about effective parenting methods. She wants them to realise that tiger-parenting can
shape children into becoming someone useful to the communities. This can be supported
by Ang and Goh’s (2014) research that children of authoritarian parents actually showed
signs of being well-adjusted such as having good self-esteem and self-reliance,
demonstrating good interpersonal relations and self-efficacy.
On the contrary, I disagree with Amy Chua not allowing her daughters to choose
their own extracurricular activity. The fact that her children cannot explore their own
interests and be whatever they want is really upsetting for me to find out. It is as if her
children live just to fulfil her dreams, not theirs. It is understandable that she wants the best
for her daughters but to stop them from choosing their own extracurricular activity is not the
way to do it. Her daughters deserve to experience what it is like to have fun in a positive
way with peers at their age so they would not waste their teenage years. Based on my own
experience, extracurricular activity would not affect students’ academic performance as
long as they know their top priority and know how to manage their time wisely, so there is
no excuse for Amy Chua to never let her daughters choose their own extracurricular
activity. Darling, Caldwell, and Smith (2005) conducted a longitudinal study concerning
extracurricular activities and their effect on various aspects of development, including
academic performance. The results showed that the students who participated in school-
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based extracurricular activities had higher grades, higher academic aspirations, and better
academic attitudes than those who were not involved in extracurricular activities at all.
In conclusion, tiger-parenting is not as bad as it seems because it is proven by Amy
Chua that tiger-parenting can shape children into becoming successful individuals. The
essay really leaves a big impact on my view of tiger-parenting because of the rules Amy
Chua sets for her daughters so they will not waste their time on unnecessary things. The
way she organises her points as well as the usage of simple words and the debatable
issue on not allowing her daughters to decide their own extracurricular activity really make
me interested in reading the essay. Overall, it is an excellent essay as it caught my
attention and the issues addressed are really debatable.
(1047 words)
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References
Ang, R. P., & Goh, D. H. (2014). Childcare and parenting practices in Singapore: A
comparison of fathers' and mothers' involvement: Journal of Tropical Psychology,
28(1), 131-151. Retrieved on February 17, 2020 from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-
psychology/article/childcare-and-parenting-practices-in-singapore-a-comparison-of-
fathers-and-mothers-involvement/8E946830C51BD6B6B2BE08147D7EA717
Chua, A. (Jan 8, 2011). Why Chinese mothers are superior. The Wall Street Journal
[Article, Asia Edition]. Retrieved January 5, 2020 from
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html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5
Darling, N., et. al. (2005). Participation in school-based extracurricular activities and
adolescent adjustment. Journal of leisure research, 37, 51-77.
Retrieved on February 17, 2020 from http://plaza.ufl.edu/asarkees/PSY
%203220/ECsSelfEsteem/4-%20Darling.pdf
Dorey, E., et. al. (2010). Children and television watching: a qualitative study of New
Zealand parents' perceptions and views. Child: care, health and development,
36(3), 414- 420. Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.01031.x
Yan, H., et. al. (2017). Associations among screen time and unhealthy behaviors,
academic performance, and well-being in Chinese adolescents. International
journal of environmental research and public health, 14(6), 596. Retrieved on
February 13, 2020 from https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/6/596
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